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General installation procedure

Unlock the bootloader or root your device.

This is a prerequisite to installing a custom recovery. Some devices (such as Nexus devices from Google) allow the user to unlock the bootloader via fastboot with the fastboot oem unlock command if they wish. With an unlocked bootloader, the user can flash a compatible recovery by connecting the device to a computer via USB cable. Other devices — particularly US carrier-branded devices — restrict access to the bootloader, so a device-specific method of rooting the phone is required before a custom recovery can be installed.

Install TWRP (a custom recovery).

TWRP is the only recovery officially supported by Omni. CWM (ClockWorkMod, the other main custom recovery available) does not fully support openrecoveryscript, which is used for Omni updates. TWRP recovery images can be flashed (installed) using the GooManager app on a rooted phone, or via fastboot with the fastboot flash recovery <recovery_file_name.img> command from a computer for unlocked bootloaders. Flashing a custom recovery means replacing the stock recovery that comes with a device.

Download Omni ROM and Google apps to your device SD card.

Device-specific builds of Omni ROM are built regularly for officially supported devices. Devices are listed by code name (such as "mako" for the Nexus 4). You can either download the ROM to your computer and transfer it over USB, or download using the device itself.

Boot into recovery, do a factory reset, and install Omni ROM.

A factory reset (wiping the /data partition and the cache partitions) will remove all apps, settings, and app data. This is necessary when changing from one ROM to another; it is usually not necessary when simply flashing an updated version of the same ROM. A factory reset does not affect files in the "sdcard" where things like photos and downloads are kept. (The "sdcard" may be a real micro SD card or a storage partition on internal memory, depending on the device.)

Recommended: Install Google apps.

Omni ROM is built without the closed-source Google apps that ship with most devices (including the the Google Play app market). Unless you wish to avoid using Google services altogether, you should download and install a set of Google apps ("Gapps", see below). The recommended Paranoid Android versions only need to be flashed after the initial Omni ROM installation; they will be retained during ROM updates.

Optional: Install a flashable Superuser zip to root your device.

At present, Omni ROM is not rooted by default. If you wish to root your device, use a flashable root installer, such as Superuser by ClockWorkMod (open source) or SuperSU (created by Omni developer Chainfire, but closed source). Additional steps are required to retain root after Omni updates:

Superuser: place the Superuser zip in the /OpenDelta/FlashAfterUpdate directory of your SD card. It will automatically be re-flashed after each update.

SuperSU: after installation, you can use the SuperSU app to install the backup script, which will let you retain root when the ROM is updated without re-flashing SuperSU.

Reboot into Omni.

Update to a new build as often as you wish.

Omni ROM supports incremental updates to the latest build. To check for updates, go to Settings > About phone > System Updates.

Device-specific installation guides

Oppo

Samsung

Google

Google Apps

While we encourage users to seek out other open source alternatives to Google's Proprietary Applications, we understand that many people want the Google experience. So to that end, we recommend to search XDA page for latest Google Apps (gapps) package.

SuperSU

Chainfire's SuperSU package is, in our opinion, the most stable and comprehensive root solution out there. For that reason we encourage you to visit his XDA post for the latest and greatest build.